Some see Shariah law as a threat to human rights, discriminating specifically against women, gays, and non-Muslims. This limited understanding of Shariah may lead to a half-hearted response rather than a serious fight over U.S. strategic interests.
It is, however, difficult for an honest person to deny the fact that Shariah is a threat to human rights
for the real threat of Shariah goes far beyond infringements of human rights.
Shariah was the main topic for discussion in several debates
in the U.S. and other Western countries.
Careful observation of our modern history reveals that the U.S. has had major troubles from all Muslim countries or systems that have implemented Shariah.
The list of Islamic countries and societies that have implemented Shariah as the main law of the land includes Saudi Arabia; Iran; Afghanistan under the Taliban regime; Sudan; and Somalia.
Without a single exception, the U.S. has suffered major troubles from all of these countries.
For example, Saudi Arabia produced Osama bin Laden, who led al-Qaida and attacked the U.S. on Sept. 11, 2001, which dragged the U.S. into very costly confrontations. These confrontations have cost the U.S. economy trillions of dollars and thousands of lives. In fact, 15 of the 19 hijackers of the planes that attacked the twin towers on Sept. 11 were Saudis.
Moreover, petrodollars coming out of Shariah-ruled Saudi Arabia have been used to support Islamists in Egypt and other Islamic countries, thus promoting more Islamic-based hatred and animosity toward the U.S.
Another example of the outworking of Shariah is the Iranian Islamic regime that has shown aggression toward the U.S. and currently aims at creating a nuclear bomb that threatens world stability and security. The relationship between the U.S. and Iran declined dramatically after the Iran regimen adopted Shariah following the Islamic revolution in 1979.
Afghanistan under Shariah created a system extremely hostile toward the West, including the U.S. The Shariah-ruled Taliban adopted al-Qaida fighters and caused — and is still causing — major troubles for the U.S.
In fact, the Islamist threat that originated in Afghanistan has also affected nearby countries such as Pakistan. The honeymoon that existed temporarily between the U.S. and the Taliban during the confrontation with the Russians has ended and the true nature of the Taliban as an anti-American regimen has been exposed.
Furthermore, the relations between Sudan and the U.S. have significantly declined after the implementation of Shariah in the country.
Somalia as well showed animosity toward the U.S. and became a breeding ground for terrorists since it became controlled by the Al-Shabbab Islamic movement that implemented Shariah in the land. Several U.S. Muslim citizens also became radicalized in Somalia after Shariah dominated it.
If we compare the above countries to Islamic countries that did not make Shariah the main law of the land — such as Turkey, Qatar, UAE, Tunisia, Malaysia, and Indonesia — we notice that the former countries did not cause as much trouble for the U.S. as the Shariah-ruled countries did. This is unlikely to be just a coincidence.
Shariah causes animosity toward the U.S. (as a symbol of the highest power of Western civilization) in several ways as we see below:
1. Shariah Law creates hatred toward the values of freedom and equality that are the founding principles of the U.S. For example, Shariah allows beating women, polygamy, and paedophilia.
Additionally, it promotes killing apostates, gays, and adulterers. Islamists who adopt these Shariah values cannot have anything but hatred toward the countries that promote freedom and liberty.
2. Shariah induces a notion of the supremacy of Islam above all non-Muslims. Several koranic verses have been used to promote this principle of supremacy of Muslims and Islam (See: Koran 48:28).
Also, Shariah rules necessitate that non-Muslims in Muslim society MUST pay a special form of tax of humiliation "Jizia" to the Muslim rulers. Non-Muslims — according to Shariah — must by disgraced during paying such taxes.
The psychological contradiction in the mind of Islamists between their sense of the supremacy of Islam, and the reality of their weakness and inferiority, creates frustrations that lead to a desire to destroy or erase the world power, i.e., the U.S. and other western countries, that "deprives" them of their superiority.
3. Shariah principles teach the values of jihad to spread the religion and subjugate non-Muslims to Islamic laws. With no single exception, all schools of Islamic jurisprudence (Shafeii, Hanbali, Maleki, and Hanafi) promote that Muslims must declare war on and fight non-Muslims until they subjugate to Islam.
The integration of the previous three factors can explain to some extent the observed positive correlation between implementing Shariah and creating hostility toward the U.S. and other Western countries.
To conclude, the trouble that has faced the U.S. from countries that adopted Shariah in the last few decades, and the enormous costs that were paid by the U.S. in these confrontations, should make the U.S. consider Shariah not only an infringement to human rights but, more importantly, a serious threat to its national security and strategic interests.
Dr. Tawfik Hamid is the author of "Inside Jihad: Understanding and Confronting Radical Islam." Read more reports from Tawfik Hamid — Click Here Now.
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